Spring vegetables salad

We love a good salad. It’s been years since we forgot the boring tomato and lettuce “I’m on a sad diet” kind of salad and we started incorporating lots of delicious ingredients that made salads complete meals full of nutrients and flavour. In this blog we have shared with you a few salad recipes, always seasonal, including our very favourites like this mango, avocado and chicken salad, this white beans and tuna salad or this amazing peach and chicken salad. Now that Spring is here and Summer is around the corner there are lots of great vegetables in season and that means colorful, delicious salads with juicy vinaigrettes.

Today we bring you a recipe with one of our favourite Spring ingredients: asparagus. Lately, we’ve been having grilled asparagus for dinner every other day and while we love this simple way of eating our veggies, we wanted another alternative to enjoy them. We’ve already shared with you this wonderful asparagus and potato tart and this brunch salad, but we wanted something different. Enter this spring vegetables salad…

Preheat the oven to 220ºC/ fan 200ºC. Put the potatoes on a baking tray with a pinch of sea salt and pepper and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Roast for 15 to 20 minutes.

In the meantime boil the eggs just for 7 minutes. Take them out of the heat, run them under cold water and once they are cool, peel and put to one side.

When the potatoes have had about 20 minutes in the oven and they start looking golden, throw in the asparagus, toss to coat in the oil and roast for a further 15 minutes.

While the potatoes and asparagus are in the oven, prepare your vinaigrette: add 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, the red vinegar and the Dijon mustard and whisk to mix. If you are preparing this salad for more than 2 people and you need more vinaigrette, just remember this proportion: two tablespoons of olive oil per one tablespoon of vinegar. You can apply this rule to all your vinaigrettes, by the way.

Now put the watercress, cornichons, capers and chopped parsley into a serving dish. Take the asparagus and potatoes out of the oven, cut the potatoes in halves and chop the asparagus. Add them into your serving dish. Finally, chop the eggs and add them to the salad. Pour your vinaigrette and toss gently to combine. Serve while the potatoes and asparagus are still warm.

We love this salad for dinner: it’s very comforting. The sweetness of the new potatoes and asparagus and the sourness of the cornichons and strong vinaigrette create the perfect contrast. It’s light but fulfilling and, even though it’s really easy to prepare, feels like a gourmet delicacy. If you are having guests and you want to impress them with a different salad, this is your recipe!